Key points

• Data from The Alfred shows weekly referrals have almost doubled from six women a week last year to at least 10 new patients a week this year
• About one-third of women were now presenting with PTSD, up from 7 per cent of all patients in pre-pandemic times
• The Australian Association of Psychologists Inc has noticed a rising number of parents, particularly mothers who homeschooled children during lockdowns, who are ‘exhausted and discombobulated’
• To help deal with the rising levels of mental health issues in women, the HER Centre Australia, next door to The Alfred, will open on Thursday

A record number of Victorian women, who bore the brunt of domestic responsibilities and frontline work during the pandemic, are seeking support for anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction.

Monash University Professor Jayashri Kulkarni, who runs The Alfred hospital’s women’s mental health clinic, said the psychological toll on women who disproportionately took charge of homeschooling children, worked in stressful frontline jobs and gave birth during the pandemic was becoming apparent and the demand for support exceeds that of the height of lockdowns.

Professor Jayashri Kulkarni says the pandemic has taken a psychological toll on women.Credit:Jason South

“We are seeing the lingering effects of PTSD, anxiety disorders, eating disorders and depressions in all shapes and across all groups of women,” said Kulkarni, a psychiatrist for 30 years.

“Addiction disorders are also on the rise, particularly among teachers, nurses and homeschooling parents, who dealt with extraordinary stress and used alcohol as a coping mechanism.

“Many now have a physiological addiction to alcohol that needs to be dealt with.”

Kulkarni said she and her colleagues had also observed a worrying trend in women who gave birth during the pandemic, who had presented with complex and prolonged bouts of postnatal depression, fuelled by social isolation and an inability to get support. Women were also expressing coronavirus-induced anxiety about their babies’ health.

Recent data from Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Australia showed there was still significant pressure on the service’s perinatal mental health helpline, with demand levels at 45 per cent higher than before the pandemic.

Data from The Alfred shows weekly referrals have almost doubled from six women a week last year to at least 10 new patients a week this year, with the centre providing more complex mental health care to hundreds of women across the state.

About one-third of women were now presenting with PTSD, up from 7 per cent of all patients in pre-pandemic times, while more than half the women being treated at the clinic have symptoms of depression and one in five are being diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.

Australian Association of Psychologists Inc director Carly Dober has also noticed a rising number of parents, particularly mothers who homeschooled children during lockdowns, who are “exhausted and discombobulated”.

“There is a real sense of desperation and hopelessness,” she said, adding that wait times had blown out by six months at some Victorian clinics, while other psychologists had to close their books to new clients.

Dober said the pandemic had “turbocharged demand” for mental health support and this had not declined after restrictions eased.

“It’s very concerning being a psychologist and seeing how desperate some people are to get support and knowing that there’s probably many more out there who haven’t been able to have the opportunity to go and get that help,” she said.

It comes after a jarring report analysing ambulance attendances in Victoria indicated the proportion of alcohol-related callouts to the home jumped 60 to 81 per cent from the start of the pandemic to the tail end of the state’s protracted lockdowns.

The largest increase was in people aged in their 30s, with the experts theorising many people would have been affected by the stress of home schooling, having to stay and work from home, loss of income or jobs and strained relationships.

To help deal with the rising levels of mental health issues in women, the HER Centre Australia, next door to The Alfred, will be launched on Thursday.

The centre, overseen by Alfred Health, Monash University and Cabrini Hospital, builds on decades of work by Kulkarni and her team.

It will conduct new research and clinical trials, such as the use of estrogen to treat schizophrenia; new treatments, including brain stimulation for perinatal depression; and studies on mental illnesses linked to childbirth and menopause, which Kulkarni said have been amplified by COVID.

It follows the opening of Australia’s first women-only mental health hospital last year, a Cabrini 30-bed centre, which specialises in the treatment of depression and anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction and offer gender-targeted therapies.

Dober urged anyone struggling with their mental health to seek support.

“Be proactive if you are sensing something is not OK, please get on it as soon as you can,” she said. “Talk to your friends or family about how you are feeling early and do not delay seeking formal support.”

If you are troubled by this report or experiencing a personal crisis, you can call Lifeline on 131 114 or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636. Beyond Blue’s coronavirus mental wellbeing support service is on 1800 512 348.

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